The Plucky Canadian Chose Courage
Book Review
By Paul O’Shea
Taking Life in Stride
By Harvey Mitro
238 pages, $24.99 Canadian Dollars
You really should write a book. Harvey Mitro’s clients pressed the Canadian to take his stories,
struggles and successes, and share them with the world.
Unlike those who hear that encouragement and never put fingers to typewriter keys, Harvey
did just that, and so we have Taking Life in Stride, his lively and lovely new memoir.
A runner for more than four decades, Mitro reveals his life through a series of brief chapters.
There’s the bunny caper, the high school dance class final exam, the battle with ulcerative
colitis. There’s his intervention when he saves a 90-year old woman hanging upside down in her
overturned car. And, the 100 Mile Relay in which he manages the contributions of one hundred
men who run one mile each at an average of less than 4:42 and break the Guinness world
record. Finally, his own less-is-more moment--running one mile in less than four minutes.
Harvey Mitro didn’t casually lope through life; he kept his eye on the rewards running gave over
45 years. A kinesiologist, personal trainer, and coach, he lives in Toronto.
The Story of Billy the Bunny (his chapter title) begins innocently enough when on a night run,
Mitro spies a small rabbit lawn ornament. Eschewing a wiser choice, he picks up the six pound
trophy, takes it home, and over the next six months, twenty cities and six countries-- he and his
running mates enjoy their good luck talisman while competing nationally and internationally.
Harvey then—suspend disbelief--retraces his steps and replaces the bunny in its previous
hutch. The local Sarnia newspaper gets a tip about the escapade and the story airs on CBC
radio. The lark ascends.
For me the book’s centerpiece, the narrative worth the entry fee is some of the finest running
writing I’ve encountered. His performance as a high school senior in the Lambton County cross
country championship is as riveting a first person accounting as you’ll find. Titled Something
Greater, the author takes us breath by breath, meter by meter, through one of his most
important high school races, in which he overcame a midrace tachycardiac attack, a shoe
sucked off by watery mush, going off course late in the race, a fall that lands him flat on his
chest, painful gravel on a shoeless foot, but a finish that qualifies his team for the next essential
race.
Later he reflects:
“Never before had I been through a race where so many things went wrong. My body is bruised
and bloodied, punished from top to bottom. My best competitors beat me soundly, and a
malfunctioning heart remains a huge concern. The raw truth is, in every measurable parameter
set out for myself today, I failed. Yet sitting here in the start area, there is a smile on my face.
With so many opportunities to give in to my fears of failure, I chose courage.”
High school grades were less than Oxbridge and the Kinesiology department at the University of
Waterloo initially rejected him for its program but would accept him for its Dance curricula. He
performed the required dance movements in a dance studio exam with his chosen music,
Chariots of Fire.
While Harvey Mitro apparently never broke four minutes on a track, a road mile in Traverse
City, Michigan at the 1990 Cherry Festival is perhaps his most memorable achievement when
he defeats 1984 Olympic bronze steeplechase medalist Brian Diemer in 3:57.
The book received enthusiastic early reviews. The New York Times designated
Stride as a Book Editor’s Choice. Dave Bailey, who will forever reign as Canada’s first sub-four
minute miler writes: “His stories provide life-learned lessons of the human experience that are
not limited to the athletic community. Some are laugh out loud funny. Others are just
charming. All are insightful and informative.”
Seven-time Canadian record holder Doug Consiglio: “Every reader will enjoy the prose which
elegantly highlights the pleasure from the simple act of running and the incredible community
running generates.”
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----Paul O’Shea wrote about another Canadian, the legendary Bruce Kidd. Here is the link. Paul
is not known to have pilfered items while on training runs.
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